What are Sanctions?
Sanctions are a foreign policy tool that are used by both multilateral and regional bodies, as well as countries seeking to alter an undesirable behaviour or activity of another country, entity, group or person.
Why and How are sanctions used?
To coerce, constrain, or signal
Sanctions are restrictive measures that can used to coerce a change in behaviour, constrain a behaviour, and/or to communicate a clear political message to other countries or persons.
When the use of sanctions is threatened or imposed, those imposing them are using 'negative incentives' to influence governments, individuals or groups to change existing forms of behaviour deemed to jeopardise the interests of the sanctioning party/parties. Sanctions may also be used when the sanctioned party threatens to, or violates international norms, such as human rights abuses, genocide, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Sanctions are often seen as the last diplomatic tool before military action.
How are sanctions used?
Sanctions should be used as a part of a wider strategy to deliver on an overall policy objective, and it should be understood how sanctions fit into this. Sanctions are a means to an end, not a goal in themselves.
Sanctions are used routinely in response to geo-political events, often involving the breaching of international norms.
Sanctions can be used by multilateral organisations such as the United Nations, and European Union to pursue peace and security. They can also be used autonomously by individual countries to pursue a foreign policy objective in addition to those reasons already given.
Sanctions can range in terms of targets and in terms of the prohibitions that they can create. Most sanctions regimes will involve a list of designated entities and persons which are subject to asset freezes and most times travel bans.
Let's look at the example of Russia
Western sanctions on Russia
'Western' countries have had sanctions in place on Russia since 2014 when Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea. These sanctions were expanded in response to Russia's support of the Eastern break-away provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine.
Those with sanction in place included the US, UK, Canada, and the EU. These sanctions focussed on Russian efforts to integrate the Crimea and support the Eastern break-away provinces. They ranged from energy related sanctions, to asset freezes, and export controls.
In February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine in an attempt to take control of the country, bring about regime change, and permanently annex Crimea and surrounding lands to create a land bridge for Crimea with Russia.
Since the invasion there has been a significant increase in sanctions being used against Russia, not just by those who previously had sanctions on Russia, but also the likes of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. The sanctions in place have been dramatically increased to include financial, energy, export, and service prohibitions.
Thematic Sanctions Issues
Sanctions can be used to target particular individuals, groups or countries, however sanctions can also be used to target specific types of activities such as terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and human rights abuses. These types of sanctions are known as thematic sanctions regimes and the number of these in recent years has dramatically increased.
In addition to thematic sanctions there are a number of topics which regular touch on, or are directly related to sanctions which warrant focus in their own right. Topics are varied and can be about practical issues such as sanctions compliance, or be about evolving issues like sanctions evasion. Similarly there are topics like the growth of digital currencies, ransomware hacking attacks, and proliferation finance.
At Sanctions SOS, we specialise in all knowledge connected with sanctions whether based on topics or sanctions regimes. We have particular expertise in proliferation finance, counter-terrorism sanctions, and sanctions evasion. On any of these topics we are able to carry out training, deliver bespoke products - including reports and analysis.
We will be building this page out further looking to provide an overview of numerous thematic sanctions regimes and topics. We will also be looking to promote work in this field such as looking at how sanctions could be used to tackle issues such as the illegal wildlife trade and climate change.
